Bylaws

PILA Grants
1. Students shall receive a PILA Grant if they:
  1. Obtain qualifying public interest employment;
    1. “Qualifying public interest employment” shall be defined as a non-paying or low-paying position in which students serve the public interest, which shall be conceived broadly.
    2. The following shall NOT meet the definition of “qualifying public interest employment:”
      1. A research assistant position for a university professor;
      2. A judicial internship or clerkship;
      3. Partisan political campaign work.
    3. Final determination of whether employment qualifies shall be a joint decision of PILA and the Public Service Center.
  2. Complete of required Public Service and/or Pro Bono hours. Normally this includes 80 hours for 2Ls, 1L and 2L years combined, no more than 10 of which may be Public Service hours; 40 hours for 1Ls and transfer 2Ls, no more than five of which may be Public Service hours. However, for the 2020-2021 school year in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and the challenges it has presented for students and for work places, the PILA Board, in conjunction with the Public Service Center, lowered the grant eligibility requirements for 2021 grants. To be eligible for a 2021 PILA grant, a student must complete in total 20 hours of either legal pro bono hours or public service hours, as defined by the PILA Bylaws. A student is also eligible for a 2021 grant by participating in the 2020-21 Alternative Break program. To count towards a 2021 grant, public service hours must have been earned this school year, or recently enough that they were completed in contemplation of applying for a 2021 PILA grant. If a 1L student had earned pro bono hours that they traditionally could count towards their 2L PILA grant, they may apply those hours towards grant eligibility for 2021, as they usually could. This decision is cabined to the 2020-2021 school year; in the following years, under the guidance of the Public Service Center, the grant eligibility requirements will return to the status quo, grandfathering in those 1Ls who received 2021 grants.
    1. Public Service and Pro Bono hours are defined as follows:
      1. Public Service Hours: Uncompensated hours during the academic year (including fall, winter, and spring breaks) spent volunteering in non-profit or governmental activities that directly benefit disadvantaged populations, the environment, animals, or the broader community beyond the university, including hours spent doing charitable work through a student organization.
        Examples of Hours That Qualify:
        Tutoring or mentoring disadvantaged populations.
        Volunteer work with city agencies or local non-profits other than UVA (e.g. trial maintenance for Charlottesville Parks and Recreation; volunteering at the Humane Society; building for Habitat for Humanity).
        Soliciting donations for a charitable cause or event where a majority of the net proceeds are donated to charity (e.g. raising money for natural disaster relief or disease research).
        Charitable or educational work through a student organization (e.g., teaching kids through Street Law, election monitoring through LawDems or Law Republicans).
        Organization and coordination of activities that qualify as pro bono or public service hours (e.g. organizing for Alternative Spring Break).
        Examples of Hours that DO NOT Qualify:
        Activities which primarily benefit law students or others in the UVA community (e.g. planning or attending student events, fundraising for an organization’s general fund, attending general meetings or social gatherings of student organizations).
        Partisan activities (e.g. canvassing for a candidate, fundraising for a political party, lobbying).
        Hours completed during the summer when school is not in session.
        Hours that are already counted as pro bono hours.
      2. Pro Bono Hours: work that qualifies under the Pro Bono Program’s definition of pro bono:
        Law-related work;
        Supervised by a licensed attorney or law school faculty member;
        For a nonprofit organization, government office or agency, or private law firm providing pro bono services to under-represented people or groups;
        Not for academic credit or financial compensation; and
        Undertaken during the academic year, which includes winter break and spring break projects.
  3. The Disbursements Director and the Public Service Center shall be responsible for jointly setting the dates by these criteria must be completed. Failure to complete the requirements by the deadlines set shall be grounds for denial of a PILA Grant.
2. Students participating in the Law and Public Service Program shall receive a PILA Grant provided that they obtain qualifying employment, notwithstanding the other requirements of Section 1(a).
3. Students who provide satisfactory documentation that they will complete the requirements by the appropriate deadlines on the date of application shall receive a conditional approval for a grant, contingent on their timely completion of the requirements.
PILA Grants Honor Pledge:
1. PILA Grant applicants recipients shall sign an Honor Pledge to:
  1. Work at least 400 hours in a public interest position during the summer; AND
  2. Receive no more than $10,000.00 in earnings from public interest employment, and return any amount in excess of that total; AND
  3. Complete a written evaluation of the position at the beginning of the next academic year; AND
  4. Do one of the following:
    1. 2Ls:
      1. Volunteer for PILA for at least 15 points by the end of the following academic year (at least some of which must be on the Auction; 1 points on the Fall Book Sale; 1 point on the Spring Book Sale; and we strongly encourage you to do 2 points for the Law School Foundation Phone-a-thon on behalf of PILA); OR
      2. Serve on the PILA Board of Directors for the following academic year.
    2. 3Ls:
      1. Volunteer for PILA for at least 10 points by the end of the following academic year (at least some of which must be on the Auction; 1 point on the Fall Book Sale; 1 point on the Spring Book Sale; and we strongly encourage you to do 2 points for the Law School Foundation Phone-a-thon on behalf of PILA); OR
      2. Serve on the PILA Board of Directors for the following academic year.
    3. Grantees who fail to fulfill their 10 or 15-point obligation to PILA will be required to return a proportional amount of their grant and denied any future PILA Grants unless circumstances outside their control prevented them from fulfilling their obligation.
PILA encourages any graduate who received a PILA Grant for his/her 1L or 2L summer, or both summers, to make a donation to PILA after graduating law school and working full-time. PILA strongly encourages any graduate working in the private sector who received a PILA Grant for his/her 1L or 2L summer, or both summers, to make a donation to PILA after graduating law school and working full-time.
Selection for Participation on Individual Alternative Spring Break Trips
1. In any given year, each of the Alternative Spring Break trips will be comprised of at least one “Captain,” and multiple “Participants.” Trip Captains will be selected by the Alternative Spring Break Director pursuant to an application process. Trip Captain selections will be made based on applicants’ demonstrated ability to organize groups and manage details, as well as their level of commitment to/passion for the Alternative Spring Break. Participants (the number of which on any given trip will be determined by the host organization’s capacity) will be selected 2/3 by lottery and 1/3 by application. The lottery for each trip will be performed FIRST, followed by selections made from the remaining unselected applicant pool. Initial review and selection of participants unselected in the lottery will be made by the Alternative Spring Break Director, with final approval reserved for the PILA Board. Criteria for participants chosen by application will be commitment to/passion for the particular Alternative Spring Break trip.

Approved March 2016.
Amended September 2019. Updated in September 2020 to reflect the change due to COVID-19.